Strung(13)

All I had to do was mention Micah Beck and his bar project and the driver knew exactly where to take me.

After the guy pulls away, I walk around the small building, hoping that the front door is unlocked.

My heart jumps with excitement when I pull on the handle and it opens. I wasn’t expecting it to be.

Now that I’m here, showing up unannounced at Micah’s place seems like a bad idea. I’m suddenly feeling nervous.

A part of me is questioning if he’ll be upset that I’m barging in on him, while the other part feels the need to push his buttons the way he pushes mine.

“Here goes nothing.” I take a quick breath and release it, before stepping into the place. My eyes scan the mostly empty bar, trying to imagine what it’ll look like once it’s all set up.

Straight ahead there’s a huge stage for performing, with various guitars hung up on the wall, and off to the right is the bar, which looks to be slightly unfinished.

After seeing the way Micah looks while performing, his tight body flexing as he strums his guitar, it’s hard for me not to blush when my attention focuses back to the stage.

I take a few more steps inside, but stop dead in my tracks when I hear a noise come from behind the bar.

It sounds as if Micah is tossing tools around.

I swallow and walk around to where the noise is coming from.

My eyes land on a shirtless, sweaty Micah. He’s lost in his work as if nothing else seems to matter at the moment, other than getting this place up and running.

I find that to be extremely sexy.

I like a man who’s dedicated.

“Looks like someone might need a little help.”

I catch the muscles in his back flex as he lifts his head and turns around to face me.

His eyes are intense as he scans me over, and I find myself wishing I never showed up unannounced.

“I’ll just . . . I’ll just leave.” I turn around and get ready to walk away.

“No.” His stern voice stops me, before I hear the sound of another tool dropping. I feel the warmth from his body pressed up behind me, before his lips touch against my neck. “We both know you should leave, but we both also know that neither of us want you to. Fuck, Tegan. Why did you come here?”

“I was bored.” I sound pathetic as the lie leaves my mouth. “I didn’t want to spend the night alone.”

His deep growl rumbles against my neck, causing my heart to almost jump from my chest. “So you figured I could entertain you . . . Is that it? Because I can promise that you can’t handle the kind of entertainment I bring afterhours.”

“I think you’re full of shit.” I take a step forward, putting a little space between us. I can’t think straight with him breathing down my neck. “And I also think you don’t know half of what I can and can’t handle.”

When I turn around his gaze is trained on me, as if he wants to devour me. He’s looking at me the same way that I made Kingston look at Harley in the story I’m writing.

But who knows. Maybe I learned that look from Micah before Kingston ever did it.

I can’t tell anymore. The words have been flowing since I’ve been around him and I hate to admit that he’s the reason.

“I know what your brother can’t handle, Tegan, and that’s me being this fucking close to you.” He moves in closer, causing me to back up until I’m pressed against the bar. “You really should leave before I mess everything up.”

I swallow and keep eye contact with him, even though it’s hard to without giving away how I’m truly feeling at the moment.

I want him to mess everything up for just one night. I keep telling myself that my brother never has to know, but I have a feeling that one night with Micah wouldn’t be so simple to hide.

“I’m not afraid of you, Micah.” I stand up straight, pretending that his breath hitting my lips isn’t making my knees weak. “You can’t boss me around like you do all the guys at Vortex. I’m here and I’m going to help, so tell me what the hell I can do, because I’m not going anywhere.”

His eyes harden as they lower to my lips, and I can’t tell if it’s because I’ve pissed him off or turned him on by standing up to him.

“Well, fuck,” he growls. “I warned you.”

Before I know it my legs are wrapped around his waist and he’s slamming his lips against mine so damn hard that my breath gets knocked out.

His taste alone is enough to leave me breathless, but the movement of his perfect lips as they capture mine is enough to keep me that way.

His tongue slips between my parted lips, sending a shockwave through my body that has my nipples stiffening with sensitivity and my stomach feeling fluttery.

My senses are all over the place right now and I can’t seem to get a grip. All I can do is kiss him back while burying my hands into his thick hair.

I never expected Micah’s kiss to be so damn powerful.

It takes his hands gripping my waist after he sets me down on the bar to come out of my little haze and realize that his erection is rubbing between my legs.

The more he grinds his body into me and the deeper his kiss becomes, the more sensitive it gets between my legs until I’m on the edge of an orgasm, about ready to come from his body.

As soon as that realization hits, I press my hands against his chest and shove him back, before I can manage to get too wrapped up in him. “Micah . . .” I pant. “I need you to back up. Now.”

An animalistic growl leaves his lips as he releases my hips and runs his hands through his hair in frustration. “Shit. I should’ve never done that.” He backs up and turns away from me.

I grip the bar, my heart racing as I watch him walk away and press his hands against the wall, bowing his head. He’s breathing just as heavily as I am, his muscles tight with each breath he takes.

He knows as much as I do that Alexander would hate us both for going behind his back and disobeying his wishes.

I didn’t think Micah cared before now, but clearly my brother’s trust means a lot more to him than I originally thought.

It makes me wonder if there’s a different side of Micah that I haven’t had a chance to see yet. A side of him that puts others before himself and isn’t selfish just because he knows he can get whatever and whoever he wants.

“It’s just as much my fault as it is yours,” I admit. “I could’ve pushed you away as soon as you kissed me, but I didn’t.” I jump down from the bar and wipe my sweaty palms down my shorts. “I also could’ve kicked you out of my room instead of allowing you to use my vibrator on me, but I didn’t.”

“Why not?” he asks stiffly.

“I don’t know . . .” I swallow and watch as he turns around to face me. The guilty look on his face has me wanting to wrap my arms around his neck and tell him it’s okay, even though it isn’t. His guilt confirms that we both care a lot about the same person. “You’re not easy to say no to. Haven’t you figured that out? Has anyone ever said no to you before, Micah?”

He runs his hands through his hair, before shaking his head.

“Exactly.” I turn away, needing to look at anything in this room other than him, before I end up naked against every surface in this place. “I’m going to call for a taxi and head back to my brother’s. I should’ve never come here to begin with.”

I reach into my pocket for my phone, but right as I’m about to place it to my ear he grabs it from me and shoves it into his back pocket. “Stay and help for a bit and I’ll take you home when I leave. I don’t want you getting rides from strangers. Some of these taxi drivers are real pricks.”

“I can handle that as long as we can order a pizza while we work.” I look up at him and reach out my hand, wiggling my fingers to show him I want my phone back. “I think I’ll need my phone for that.”

Keeping his gaze on me, he reaches into his pocket and pulls my phone out. He steps in close, as if testing my body’s reaction to him, before he hands it to me and flashes me a playful grin. “Be sure it has pepperoni. I’ll go grab the mop bucket for you.”

His smile leaves me smiling as he walks away and disappears somewhere into the back of the bar to fetch the cleaning supplies.

Even though we’re both deep into cleaning I can’t help but to look his way every time I feel his eyes on me. And every single time he catches me watching him, he seems to move in slow motion as he runs his arm across his forehead wiping away the sweat.

It’s driving me crazy, because I can’t tell if he’s moving in slow motion to tease me or if my eyes are just playing tricks on me and he’s in fact moving at a normal pace.

All I know is that I notice every single hard muscle flexing each time he does it, and it’s making it extremely hard to look away and pretend I don’t notice him.

I do my best to make small talk as a distraction.

“Is the stage for you to perform each week like you do at my brother’s bar? Tell me about this place.”

He nods and tosses down the rag he’s been using on the walls. “Yeah. But it’s not just for me. It’s for anyone who wants to perform. If it happens to just be me then I’m okay with that too.”

I look away long enough to push the mop bucket against the back wall and out of the way so the floor can dry. “Does anyone else perform at Vortex or are you the only one?”